Busy week

As you've gathered if you read/watch the press, it's been a busy week in Afghanistan. 

On Sunday, 16 May, there was a really big fire on Camp Leatherneck.  I passed the site of the fire today and saw smoldering, a week later, if that gives you an idea of the size.  To complicate things, about 30 minutes after the fire started we were hit with a truly impressive sandstorm.  Here's a great pic that was posted on CNN that captures the convergence of the two events.

Fire on the left, incoming wrath of G-d on the right. 

Regardless of the cause of the fire (on which I wouldn't comment in a public forum like this even if I knew) there was, as you can imagine, a force protection role to play, and Gunny and I played it until the wee hours of the morning.

Then the real fun began. 

Wednesday the 19th, a suicide bomer attacked a convoy in Kabul and killed quite a few people.  On Thursday the 20th, the Taliban conducted a coordinated, combined-arms assault on Bagram Air Field.  A small attack force, more suicidal than strategic, but nonetheless brazen.  In fact, I shouldn't say the attack wasn't strategic, since strategic victory and tactical victory often seem unrelated in the Small Wars of today.  What I mean is they weren't going to overrun the base; it's huge.  They were there to kill and die, and they did both. 

On Saturday the 22nd (yesterday), they conducted another complex frontal assault on the also very large Kandahar Air Field.  By a fluke, I was not at KAF though I was supposed to be.  Gunny was there and saw some of the fireworks up close but he's fine.  Was I frustrated not to be there to do my job?  More than I'll ever be able to describe.

I'll leave it to your imagination how these events have affected our work; suffice it to say we're busy.  I still enjoy the challenge of the job and derive satisfaction from each additional measure put in place to protect the good guys.  But like any large organization, there is inertia to be overcome, complacency to be combatted.  I think that despite the events of the last week, the last decade, there are still those who have not learned to use their imaginations.  For my part, there is no "I told you so" in this game; there is only, "damn." 

And for that reason, I felt for the first time today a premonition of what it will be like when this deployment is over.  I like, I even love, deployment (at least so far).  I could care less about the sand, the heat, the long hours and all the other crap.  Out here, I'm doing a real job with urgent and tangible consequences.  It puts in even starker contrast than before the horse crap (I'm trying to watch my language) that is garrison life back in the states.  And yet...for the first time today I felt that I'm looking forward to the end of this long deployment - because eventually I'll need someone else to take over the worrying. That is the only unsustainable part.

That said, I can't imagine things being exactly the same as they were when I get back.  I don't imagine I'll stop worrying. Eventually I suppose it will fade - without renewed stimulus (in this case, real-time knowledge) all things do with time. But right now it's hard to imagine.

Anyway all that is in the relatively distant future.  For now, I'm going to share the lighter side of the past week.

Earlier this week, I forget which day, we went to the range to battle-zero our rifles and get some refresher training.  There isn't a Marine in the Marine Corps who doesn't enjoy the range, even with body armor on in the 108 degree heat.  Here are some pics:

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Pivot drills

Yes.  This target.  Three rounds.  I don't know. 

180 drills (I'm 3d from left)

Well that process (uploading pics) always takes half the night. It's now after midnight and I have to be up first thing for MCMAP. So I'll have to leave you for now...hope things are quiet where you are. 

Warriors